The present invention is a manually operated lid closure system for industrial vessels which operate under high negative or positive pressure. Typical closure devices for vessels are described in many U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,077,360, 3,144,165, 4,157,146, 4,288,001, 4,347,944, 5,433,334, 6,401,958, 7,341,161, 7,802,694, 8,251,243, and 8,308,011. These designs are based on using screws, levers, toggles, tapered tongues, clamps, or hydraulic cylinders to exert tension on the mechanism that induces a clamping force to seal the lid of the pressure vessel to its shell.
These earlier designs suffer from several drawbacks. They typically involve configurations of complex parts for the closure mechanism. Existing component features require complicated and costly fabrication techniques. Most of the designs are not scalable for vessels of widely varying size. Finally, the operation of existing closure systems is time-consuming, physically taxing, or require special tools to perform.
The present invention is a unique mechanism which enables the application of sufficient mechanical restraint to contain high-pressure fluids with a manually operated cam device. No tools are necessary to quickly open or close any vessel equipped with this device.